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Brazil: On the upbeat and tackling the challenges

When surveyed on the countries they wished to gain cultural and business insights into, students and exec participants at ESSEC Business School put Brazil as their number one choice. Consequently, a special Focus Brazil workshop seminar will take place on March 16th in Paris and who better to ask to participate than our Council member school partner FGV-EAESP based in Sao Paulo, Brazil and, more specifically, Professor and Vice-Dean Tales Andreassi.

Prof. and Vice-Dean Tales Andreassi

The students’ and execs’ choice came as something as a surprise, many of us persuaded that the USA, UK or China would feature in first position. But at second glance, their choice appears all too pertinent and that much more interesting.

For many years hedged as the world’s most promising, and likely, future economic power, Brazil slipped back in the 1980s and 90s, seeing itself overtaken by the unexpected surge of China and India. Political complexities and corruption issues have also hampered Brazil’s rise on the world stage though the fact remains that the country is the eighth largest economy in the world by nominal GDP and eighth largest by purchasing power parity – and this despite the challenges it faces. Moreover, ups and downs in the Brazilian economy are common – leading to the fact that Brazil’s capacity for recovery is characteristically high, especially due to the huge domestic market of 200 million people.

Brazil also boasts world leaders in industry and agriculture, leading educational institutions such as Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV), and is a world reference in social entrepreneurship and social innovation. Moreover, the future holds hope in the guise of a new, younger generation interested in politics and committed to the common good. Altogether, Brazil is a fascinating country on many levels and we hope these articles will provide you with both motivation, food for thought and a thirst for visiting Brazil. Enjoy your reading!

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